AHMET ERTEGUN KNEW WHAT'S GOOD FOR TURKEY: GENOCIDE
RECOGNITION
21-12-2006 18:33:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
Ahmet Ertegun, the Founder and CEO of Atlantic Records
passed away on Dec. 14, 2006 at the age of 83. He was the most
famous Turkish American. His death was announced in newspapers
and TV networks throughout the world. He was the son of Mehmet
Ertegun, the former Turkish Ambassador to the United States who
had played a key role in pressuring the State Department in the
1930's to prevent MGM from making into a movie Franz Werfel's
classic novel, "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh."
Ahmet Ertegun was a music magnate who launched the careers
of many great singers and groups, such as Ray Charles, Led
Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
A couple of years ago, I received a surprising phone call
from this prominent Turk. Ertegun said he was calling from New
York to see if he could meet with me in Los Angeles to discuss
Armenian-Turkish issues. I told him that I usually decline to
meet with Turkish individuals unless they acknowledged the
Armenian Genocide. He said he did acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide.
Ertegun arrived in Los Angeles with his wife a couple of
days later. He invited me to have lunch with him at the
Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. For more than two hours, we
discussed various Armenian-Turkish issues. It was a fascinating
conversation. He was a gracious man who spoke with great charm,
self-confidence and sincerity. He surprised me by saying that he
could not understand why Turkish officials denied the Armenian
Genocide -- a fact known to the entire world. He made it clear
that he was not acknowledging the Genocide in order to appease
the Armenians. He believed that it was, first of all, in
Turkey's interest to acknowledge the Genocide, because doing so
would help Ankara's application for membership in the European
Union and get rid of the stigma that had haunted his native land
for so many years.
Ertegun said he had read about the Armenian Genocide in
many Western books, but had not seen a single reputable book
that denied its occurrence. He referred to Turkish officials who
denied the Genocide as being "Turk ghafali," implying that they
had a stubborn Turkish mentality. We explored various ideas on
how to encourage the Turkish government to acknowledge the
Genocide. He suggested that he and I fly to Ankara on a private
jet and meet with high-ranking Turkish government officials. I
declined by saying that Turkish officials were not yet ready to
acknowledge the Genocide. Instead, I proposed a number of steps
that would prepare the ground for its acknowledgment by the
Turkish government in the future. I told him that if prominent
Turks such as himself, who enjoyed the confidence of the highest
echelons of the Turkish state, would speak out on the Genocide,
that would pave the way for its eventual recognition. He agreed
to consider the possibility of issuing a public statement
recognizing the Genocide.
Before leaving, he asked me again to fly to Ankara with
him. I declined again his invitation and promised to stay in
touch with him. He said he would return to California in a few
months and expressed the hope that we could go Turkey together
at a later date. We parted very amicably. Due to his advanced
age and ill health, we could not meet again, although we spoke
several times by phone.
It is a shame that the public statement we had discussed
regarding the Armenian Genocide never materialized. I was aware
that he was a very influential man both in the United States and
Turkey. He had contributed funds to many Turkish causes and had
invited influential U.S. officials to attend Turkish events in
New York and Washington, D.C. I knew that Ertegun was not
contacting me because he was pro-Armenian, but because he
sincerely wanted to help erase the stigma of the Genocide from
Turkey's name. He firmly believed that once Ankara put the issue
of the Genocide behind it, the country would attain the respect
of the international community and would not waste its efforts
and resources to counter Armenian efforts for Genocide
recognition.
I could not write this column while he was alive since I
did not want to make him the target of hate mails and threats
from Turkish extremists by alerting them that he was considering
the possibility of issuing a public statement on the Armenian
Genocide. Alas, he passed away without being able to do so which
is a loss for both Armenians and Turks. I hasten to add that it
was a greater loss for Turkey. Ahmet Ertegun believed that by
acknowledging the Genocide, Turkey would earn many political
dividends and lose practically nothing!